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xp_logsIn the wake of the uproar caused by Manuel's return, two former rivals for his attention chat.
Smoke curled upwards from the bright red glow of a cigarette tip as city lights obscurred the stars that might have otherwise bedecked the night sky above. Jubilee sat on a bench amongst several rather pathetic looking potplants, the contents long since given up the ghost. She wondered if anyone else even came up here, and made a note to talk to Ororo next time she was around and get some seedlings to replace the plants. It was a good a place as any to retreat to when life below got hectic and she had a feeling that she was going to need such a place eventually.
That internal question was answered by the sound of the door opening and Amanda stepping out onto the rooftop. She sniffed, picking up the tang of cigarette smoke. "Sarah?" she called - there weren't a lot of smokers among the X-Force set who used the roof. She herself had been planning to sit and smoke, let the city's energy soothe her jangled nerves, but she wouldn't mind Sarah's company - the other girl was a particularly good counter to melodrama and angst and there'd been plenty of that this past week.
"Only if I'm actually Mystique and am about to transform into the person most likely to put you at ease." Jubilee replied mildly, blowing smoke into the air before looking over her shoulder at the witch. "Lookin' for a place to get away?"
"Oh, it's you." There was perhaps a hint of disappointment - given how stressful the last week had been, especially the last couple of days, Amanda wasn't sure she was up to the reliving old memories talking with Jubilee about Manuel would entail. Still, they were friends, so she mustered up a smile and came to sit beside the other girl. "I recharge up here sometimes - it's easier to feel the city when you're part of it, y'know?"
"Yeah," Jubilee replied, motioning toward the bottle of peppermint schnapps she'd brought up with her. "Feel free."
Amanda busied herself with lighting a cigarette first, inhaling deeply on the first drag. The pack had been full yesterday - now she was down to the last two. Bloody hell. With a brief cough, she reached down to snag the bottle. "Didn't realise you were part of the nicotine addicts, Lee," she said mildly, taking a sip from the bottle.
"Not regularly," Jubilee said simply, taking another deep drag and holding it for a moment before letting the smoke drift out again. A pack sat beside her on the bench, battered and dirty where it looked like it'd been dropped several times."Too expensive, but now I'm back here, lots of stuff I can do that I couldn't afford to. Surprised you're still goin', wasn't Angelo tryin' to quit?"
With a shrug, Amanda passed the bottle back to Jubilee. "Hell'll freeze over before I ever manage to quit. I cut back every so often, but..." She flicked ash, punctuating her words. "And Ange and I're dating - we aren't clones - he gets to do things without me, and vice versa. I try not to smoke in front of him so much, but I'm not going to quit just 'cause he's trying to." She gave Jubilee a hard, brief grin. "Besides, this junkie's gotta have some vices left."
"There's worse vices, so you're probably safe," Jubilee noted, eyes flicking sideways as she accepted the bottle back and took another gulp, coughing slightly as the alcohol burned down her throat. "So...tough week."
"Something like that." Amanda blew out smoke with a snort. "Mark coming back from the dead, Wanda being tortured by some control freak fuck, Manuel..." She glanced at the shorter girl. "Haven't heard much from you on that score. You dealing all right?"
"He and I weren't really close like you two were, I didn't have him livin' in my head. An I'm not great with emotional attachments at the best of times." Jubilee murmured, dropping the stub of her cigerette onto the ground and tapping it out with the toe of her foot. "You figured out whether you're gonna speak to him at all yet?"
Amanda nodded. "Can't really avoid it, if I'm gunna be able to go to the mansion ever again," Amanda replied. "Well, once Remy gives me the go-ahead, any way. And, to be honest, I probably should. Clear the air, see where we stand." She glanced over at Jubilee, reaching for the bottle. "You're wrong, tho', 'bout how you two weren't close. Manuel didn't have a lot of friends, but he thought of you as one of his closest, even after you two stopped shagging."
"It's good, will be good for you. I'm glad you're gonna talk to him. Manny and I...not my finest hour, really. I never thought of him as more then a bit of fun, and sometimes not even that. He was an itch to scratch, someone to... someone when I was alone." Jubilee admitted, pushing her hair out of her face and up behind her ears before reaching for her packet of cigarettes. "I've been colder in the past, and now, then I've ever wanted to admit."
"I owe that much to him, at least." Amanda took a long swallow from the bottle and then let it dangle between her knees, not saying anything for a long moment. Then she spoke: "You're admitting it now, then?"
She took a moment before answering, lighting her cigerette with a lighter she'd stored in the top of the pack.
"Yeah." she finally said, watching a light come on in the window of the building across from them, a worker just getting home perhaps, or someone just back from the club.
"'S about time, then. At least you're not fooling yourself any more with that whole 'I'm just a normal girl' shite." Amanda grinned at Jubilee. "And you're in the right place for it. None of us are what you'd call 'normal'. We're just more honest about being fucked up."
"Just as long as it eventually involves an island, those cabana boys Emma mentioned and as many violently coloured drinks as I can handle." Jubilee replied, returning Amanda's grin with one of her own. "Frankly, after this week, I say we wait till Mark can enjoy it and then all escape New York for a weekend at the very least."
"Oh, we escape New York all the time. Only problem is, it's usually to blow something up." Amanda snorted. "Besides, say that too loudly and Sof will get ideas for team bonding at a spa or something, and the last time that happened, she, Angie and Doug wound up switching genders."
"I should start running now, shouldn't I?" Jubilee said, gesturing for the bottle and then taking a drink before handing it back. "Still, I suppose swapping gender isn't the strangest shit we've seen."
"Not by a long shot." Amanda agreed.
Smoke curled upwards from the bright red glow of a cigarette tip as city lights obscurred the stars that might have otherwise bedecked the night sky above. Jubilee sat on a bench amongst several rather pathetic looking potplants, the contents long since given up the ghost. She wondered if anyone else even came up here, and made a note to talk to Ororo next time she was around and get some seedlings to replace the plants. It was a good a place as any to retreat to when life below got hectic and she had a feeling that she was going to need such a place eventually.
That internal question was answered by the sound of the door opening and Amanda stepping out onto the rooftop. She sniffed, picking up the tang of cigarette smoke. "Sarah?" she called - there weren't a lot of smokers among the X-Force set who used the roof. She herself had been planning to sit and smoke, let the city's energy soothe her jangled nerves, but she wouldn't mind Sarah's company - the other girl was a particularly good counter to melodrama and angst and there'd been plenty of that this past week.
"Only if I'm actually Mystique and am about to transform into the person most likely to put you at ease." Jubilee replied mildly, blowing smoke into the air before looking over her shoulder at the witch. "Lookin' for a place to get away?"
"Oh, it's you." There was perhaps a hint of disappointment - given how stressful the last week had been, especially the last couple of days, Amanda wasn't sure she was up to the reliving old memories talking with Jubilee about Manuel would entail. Still, they were friends, so she mustered up a smile and came to sit beside the other girl. "I recharge up here sometimes - it's easier to feel the city when you're part of it, y'know?"
"Yeah," Jubilee replied, motioning toward the bottle of peppermint schnapps she'd brought up with her. "Feel free."
Amanda busied herself with lighting a cigarette first, inhaling deeply on the first drag. The pack had been full yesterday - now she was down to the last two. Bloody hell. With a brief cough, she reached down to snag the bottle. "Didn't realise you were part of the nicotine addicts, Lee," she said mildly, taking a sip from the bottle.
"Not regularly," Jubilee said simply, taking another deep drag and holding it for a moment before letting the smoke drift out again. A pack sat beside her on the bench, battered and dirty where it looked like it'd been dropped several times."Too expensive, but now I'm back here, lots of stuff I can do that I couldn't afford to. Surprised you're still goin', wasn't Angelo tryin' to quit?"
With a shrug, Amanda passed the bottle back to Jubilee. "Hell'll freeze over before I ever manage to quit. I cut back every so often, but..." She flicked ash, punctuating her words. "And Ange and I're dating - we aren't clones - he gets to do things without me, and vice versa. I try not to smoke in front of him so much, but I'm not going to quit just 'cause he's trying to." She gave Jubilee a hard, brief grin. "Besides, this junkie's gotta have some vices left."
"There's worse vices, so you're probably safe," Jubilee noted, eyes flicking sideways as she accepted the bottle back and took another gulp, coughing slightly as the alcohol burned down her throat. "So...tough week."
"Something like that." Amanda blew out smoke with a snort. "Mark coming back from the dead, Wanda being tortured by some control freak fuck, Manuel..." She glanced at the shorter girl. "Haven't heard much from you on that score. You dealing all right?"
"He and I weren't really close like you two were, I didn't have him livin' in my head. An I'm not great with emotional attachments at the best of times." Jubilee murmured, dropping the stub of her cigerette onto the ground and tapping it out with the toe of her foot. "You figured out whether you're gonna speak to him at all yet?"
Amanda nodded. "Can't really avoid it, if I'm gunna be able to go to the mansion ever again," Amanda replied. "Well, once Remy gives me the go-ahead, any way. And, to be honest, I probably should. Clear the air, see where we stand." She glanced over at Jubilee, reaching for the bottle. "You're wrong, tho', 'bout how you two weren't close. Manuel didn't have a lot of friends, but he thought of you as one of his closest, even after you two stopped shagging."
"It's good, will be good for you. I'm glad you're gonna talk to him. Manny and I...not my finest hour, really. I never thought of him as more then a bit of fun, and sometimes not even that. He was an itch to scratch, someone to... someone when I was alone." Jubilee admitted, pushing her hair out of her face and up behind her ears before reaching for her packet of cigarettes. "I've been colder in the past, and now, then I've ever wanted to admit."
"I owe that much to him, at least." Amanda took a long swallow from the bottle and then let it dangle between her knees, not saying anything for a long moment. Then she spoke: "You're admitting it now, then?"
She took a moment before answering, lighting her cigerette with a lighter she'd stored in the top of the pack.
"Yeah." she finally said, watching a light come on in the window of the building across from them, a worker just getting home perhaps, or someone just back from the club.
"'S about time, then. At least you're not fooling yourself any more with that whole 'I'm just a normal girl' shite." Amanda grinned at Jubilee. "And you're in the right place for it. None of us are what you'd call 'normal'. We're just more honest about being fucked up."
"Just as long as it eventually involves an island, those cabana boys Emma mentioned and as many violently coloured drinks as I can handle." Jubilee replied, returning Amanda's grin with one of her own. "Frankly, after this week, I say we wait till Mark can enjoy it and then all escape New York for a weekend at the very least."
"Oh, we escape New York all the time. Only problem is, it's usually to blow something up." Amanda snorted. "Besides, say that too loudly and Sof will get ideas for team bonding at a spa or something, and the last time that happened, she, Angie and Doug wound up switching genders."
"I should start running now, shouldn't I?" Jubilee said, gesturing for the bottle and then taking a drink before handing it back. "Still, I suppose swapping gender isn't the strangest shit we've seen."
"Not by a long shot." Amanda agreed.
